Weekly Photo Challenge: Unexpected 11-22-2013

Orca Whales – Galapagos Islands

Orca Whales – Galapagos Islands

Orca Whales – Galapagos Islands

Orca Whales – Galapagos Islands

Orca Whales – Galapagos Islands

One of the most unexpected things we have encountered during our travels was seeing a pod of Orca whales while we were in the Galapagos Islands. We were on our way to snorkel with the green sea turtle when our zodiac driver made an abrupt u-turn. He raced to the area where he thought he had spotted a whale. The first breach was a single whale that came up behind me, so I missed it but my wife saw it. No one on our zodiac was ready with the camera for that one, but as we followed them for about 30-45 minutes it turned out that it was an entire pod, not just a single Orca. We were able to get some great shots of multiple breaching at the same time. I have posted some of these previously, but had to share them again since it was the most unexpected event we have experienced.